Schepikhin's kidnapping sparks debate about law enforcers' methods

Evgeny Popov, a Russian State Duma MP, and Eva Merkachova, a human rights defender, regard the actions of law enforcers who had kidnapped Areg Schepikhin at the train station and took him away in a car trunk as unacceptable. A source from Chechen authorities said that law enforcers saved the blogger from Muslims’ wrath; and the detention was not too harsh.

In his video clips, Areg Schepikhin spoke out against Muslims and Jews, and also insulted Chechens and Dagestanis. The Main Directorate of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) for Combating Extremism has initiated an inquiry into his statements.

MP and human rights defender treat Schepikhin's kidnapping as unacceptable.

Such lawlessness is unacceptable.

Evgeny Popov, a State Duma MP, has called the actions of the people who had kidnapped Areg Schepikhin as "unacceptable arbitrariness." "My respect is to the policemen who stopped illegal actions in Moscow. Such arbitrariness is inadmissible; neither in the capital, nor anywhere else. Only the law and order should rule," he wrote today in his Telegram channel.

It seemed like one was provoking, while others (and this is expected for them) got provoked.

The kidnappers’ actions against Areg Schepikhin were also criticized by Eva Merkachova, a human rights defender. She has noted that the blogger "behaved clearly inappropriately" by recording and posting offensive videos, but the kidnappers "behaved clearly criminally (by grabbing and kidnapping him)." In her opinion, the kidnappers seemed to be demonstrating "that they are above the law, legislation and the Constitution."

"One seemed to provoke, the others (and this was expected for them) got provoked. And all together they put Moscow law enforcement bodies in an awkward position. Obvious things are as follows: one can’t publicly insult people on the basis of nationality or religion (and in general one shouldn’t insult anyone), but no one can kidnap or lynch people. The former can be classified as ‘hooliganism’ from the viewpoint of the law, or under Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (incitement of hatred and enmity); and the latter one – as ‘kidnapping’, ‘threat of murder’, ‘causing bodily harm’, etc. The second crime is clearly graver than the first one," Ms Merkachova wrote in her Telegram channel.

Chechen authorities justify actions of Schepikhin's kidnappers.

In his turn, Salakh Mezhiev, the Mufti of Chechnya who is also an adviser to the head of the republic, has criticized Areg Schepikhin, but "expressed words of support for the actions of the law enforcers who had detained" him. The Mufti has demanded "the most severe punishment" for Schepikhin.

"This individual has not only crossed all the boundaries of what is permitted, but committed a grave crime by publicly calling for ethnic cleansings, promoting Nazism, and inciting the interreligious and interethnic strife. But the most vile and inhumane thing in his posts is in his statements against religion," the “Grozny” State TV and Radio Broadcasting Company has quoted the Mufti as saying in the Company’s Telegram channel.

In his Telegram channel, Akhmed Dudaev has posted an audio message which he supplemented with his post criticizing Schepikhin.

They essentially saved his life or at least his health.

"I’d like to add a couple of points regarding the case of this provocateur. Firstly, the law enforcers who conducted the detention, they in fact saved his life or at least his health, since hundreds of thousands of Muslims and not only Muslims, but all the believers in our country who heard his unacceptable, offensive statements [...] were literally seething with the desire to quickly bring this instigator of interethnic and interfaith strife to justice. Secondly, I’d like to note that the detention itself was conducted without particularly harsh, violent actions on the part of law enforcers, given the fact that he resisted and tried to escape," Akhmed Dudaev has written.

The authors of comments have criticized the blogger.

Some readers of the "Caucasian Knot" have also expressed their opinions in their comments today that Areg Schepikhin provoked the violence. "And what did Schepikhin expect after his dirty remarks about Caucasians and everyone else? That they would take him out into the forest for a barbecue, treat him to Armenian cognac, pat him on the head <...> and take him home with honours?" the user nicolasa_dooley has written, in particular.

"Areg Samvelovich got off easy; we can say, with a slight fright. It could have been worse," the user tarah has noted. "If he was really released, then no charges were brought. But the whole country has already seen that in his videos he said more than one article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation," the user virgil has written.

This was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 4, 2025 at 04:42 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here